Abstract
Carcass traits and saleable meat yield (SMY) of female and castrated male alpacas in Australia at 18, 24 and 36months of age were investigated. Fifty huacaya alpacas, evenly distributed across 14, 20, 32month ages and two genders, were grazed on coastal summer pastures for four months. Dressing percentage and carcass length were collected at slaughter. At 24h post-mortem the carcasses were prepared into four SMY combinations. Thirty six month animals had heavier hot carcass weights (33.7±1kg) and longer carcasses (81.2±0.7cm) as expected. The percentage of total carcass bone (17.5±0.2%), fat trim (1.4±0.1%) and meat trim (7.8±0.4%) was assessed as a proportion of cold carcass weight. The proportion of fat increased and bone decreased with age. Females had more trim than males. SMY decreased in females and increased in males with age across all combinations suggesting that males are preferable for meat production.
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